


If you're going to do something that crazy...

by KalynaAnne



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-23 21:17:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20226907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KalynaAnne/pseuds/KalynaAnne
Summary: This started as Skaaiat analysis and has evolved into a bullet point sort of fic-sketch of how I imagine Skaaiat and Daos Ceit ended up where we found them at Omaugh, leading into the events at the end of Ancillary Justice.I debated whether I should try to properly flesh it out into a full fic rather than a fic-sketch, but I know myself and if I do that it's just never going to get posted at all.  If anyone wants to take any or all of this and run with it, feel free. Feedback, commentary, and further speculation are all welcome!





	If you're going to do something that crazy...

  * While assigned to Kould Ves, Skaaiat found herself falling for Lt. Awn, who wasn't the type of person she’s supposed to love, and in the process was forced to challenge her political and social views. She was already inclined toward reform, but watching Awn’s leadership style in the lower city taught her things about interacting with and respecting people who aren’t like her, who society considers "lower".
  * The awful events in the temple happen. Skaaiat knows that they had to be orchestrated by Anaander Mianaai. There’s no other explanation that makes sense.
  * Skaaiat was never as straightforward as she could have been with Awn - likely she wasn’t fully honest even with herself until Justice of Toren up and vanished with Awn aboard and Skaaiat realized just how devastated she was.
  * The replacement Anaander installs in Ors was almost certainly more traditional than Awn, likely lived in the upper city, and looked down on those who lived in the lower. Skaaiat asked herself “What would Awn do?” and visited Ors frequently, wandering the streets and chatting with the locals in the lower city. She encouraged their kids to take the aptitudes, despite the renewed fear of Radchaai ways, and helped those who needed to appeal to the district magistrate in Kould Ves. When Daos Ceit’s aptitudes results come back and her assignment is sending her to a far off station as a dock inspector, her family is both proud and terrified, convinced that if they send her out into the Radch there’s no way she will survive. (Daos Ceit herself is both thrilled and apprehensive. She _has_ to get out of Ors - as long as she is here the memory of the temple massacre is always there, constantly remembered and painful. If she can just get away, _maybe_ she can move past it. Leaving for proper Radchaai space is intimidating and, yes, a little scary, but in addition to the horror of the temple she also remembers One Esk. She remembers One Esk learning her songs and taking her hand and assuring her that no matter how scared she was _she could do this_. She remembers taking a deep breath and re-washing her hands and performing her duties as flower bearer with the Lord of the Radch _right there_ and knows that if she could get through _that_ as a small child, she can muster up the determination to get through _anything._) Her family comes to Skaaiat looking for reassurance and Skaaiat decides that maybe it is time for her to leave Shis’urna as well. (The anti-reform Anaanader is in ascendance and has been making life difficult for Skaaiat - repeatedly trying and failing to actually find any solid evidence against her.) Skaaiat offers Daos Ceit clientage as a form of sponsorship/protection, but the Orsians haven’t really adopted the clientage system and are uncomfortable with it. When Skaaiat realizes this, she instead offers to make Daos Ceit a daughter of house Awer and to treat her as her younger sister.
  * As an Awer, when Skaaiat requests to be reassigned as a Dock Inspector Supervisor, the reassignment quickly comes through and she has the clout to demand Daos Ceit as one of her inspectors. Initially, they are both sent to the same small station Daos Ceit was assigned to, but when the Inspector Supervisor position opens at Omaugh Palace, Anaander jumps at the chance to get Skaaiat back under direct supervision. During their time at the small station, Daos Ceit adjusts to station life and being immersed in Radchaai culture. When they show up at Omaugh Palace, Skaaiat installs Ceit as her personal assistant. Ceit still has a hint of a provincial accent and provincial looks, but she also has an Awer house pin on her shoulder and knows how to properly navigate interacting with a wide range of people and how to properly serve tea. Ceit befriends her fellow inspectors. Skaaiat treats everyone reasonably fairly, keeps the docks running smoothly and quickly becomes one of Station’s favorites. They settle in nicely and everything is going smoothly.
  * Then a ship shows up with Captain Seivarden Vendaai and some rich foreign visitor that Station and security seem unduly interested it, even beyond what she would expect from what she knows of Seivarden's story. Skaaiat intentionally has Ceit bring them in and have them wait for a few minutes to see how they handle it. (Breq hums an Orsian song, Ceit recognizes it and it subconsciously puts her at ease, but she doesn’t think through the implications. Skaaiat is intrigued, but doesn’t work out what it means - what it means is far too unlikely to possibly be real). Skaaiat meets with them, quickly discovering that things are even more complicated than she initially realized. Seivarden Vendaii, a Radchaai captain from a thousand years ago who should be the leader in this situation and whose socialization should make her think she is superior to everyone is very obviously deferential to the foreigner, Breq, who claims to be from the Gerentate, but also hums songs from Ors. This is a Mystery. I have to wonder if her questions and comments to Breq about what is and isn’t proper for her to do for Seivarden are as much about Skaaiat trying to figure out what is going on as they are about her looking out for Seivarden.
  * Skaaiat pesters Station for more information on them and when the limited data she gets back doesn’t satisfy her, she asks where to find them. It turns out they are conveniently in the same tea shop she knows her inspectors like to frequent, so she stops by and invites them to supper (and gently reminds the inspectors that they should get back to the dock). When she hears about the invitation they received from Captain Vel, she is torn - Skaaiat is very unimpressed by Captain Vel, but all logic suggests that Seivarden likely has similar political leanings (afterall, Vel would love for things to go back to how they were in Seivarden's time). As a foreigner, Breq likely prefers a Radch that isn’t still out to annex its neighbors, so she tries to warn Breq what she is getting into. Unlike Captain Vel, Skaaiat is smart enough not to get into that kind of politics in a public tea shop, so she’s subtle about it. (Breq would have gone regardless of how clear Skaaiat had made things)
  * When Breq and Seivarden finally arrive at Skaaiat’s, Ceit is genuinely happy to see them. Skaaiat is actually showing interest in people that aren’t directly related to her work _and_, as far as Ceit is aware, have nothing to do with Awn! Ceit has embraced the idea of Skaaiat as her older sister and is always happy to see her living in the present rather than dwelling on the past, as she is prone to do. Skaaiat warned Ceit that Breq and Seivarden would likely be coming directly from tea with Captain Vel, so when they seem agitated on arrival she assumes Vel managed to upset them (something Vel is very good at doing - she has very little tact) and falls back on the ritual of offering tea, doing her best to pretend that she doesn’t notice their agitation. She’s relieved when Skaaiat shows up to take over as hostess. Skaaiat is a bit surprised that Seivarden seems just as upset with Vel’s views as Breq, though it does make sense that Seivarden is appalled that anyone is speaking openly against the Lord of the Radch.
  * As she’s trying to figure out how this new information fits into the mystery of these visitors she receives a warning from Station that security is heading to her home to collect her visitors. She continues the conversation while silently reaching out to Station Security to ask if whatever it is can be postponed until after supper and is appalled to hear that this is not an option. She asks both Station Security and Station itself what is going on and receives cagey answers that make her extremely uncomfortable. Skaaiat is one of the higher authorities on Omaugh Palace Station and usually enjoys a very good working relationship with Station and its security. The fact that Station won’t tell her anything and _also_ isn’t reassuring her that everything will be fine is a bad sign. It’s a sign that Anaander Mianaai is behind whatever is happening and, likely, that it's nothing good. Skaaiat knows that there’s nothing to be done but to comply, so she reluctantly allows her guests to be arrested.
  * After security leaves with Breq and Seivarden in tow, Skaaiat continues to pester Station, trying to find a question it can answer that will give her useful information. She is growing increasingly worried and frustrated when her connection to Station suddenly disappears and her heart skips a beat. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and turns to Ceit who has been quietly busying herself with the tea things and staying out of the way. Slowly, deliberately, “Daos Ceit, do you remember that day in Ors when the Tyrant cut off all communications and ordered the massacre of citizens in the Temple of Ikkt?” Ceit freezes and then carefully sets down the tea things and nods trembling, “Yes sir, of course, but why…?” she trails off. Skaaiat forces herself to take another deep breath, “She just cut off communications here.” Skaaiat looks at the memorial on her wrist and remembers. Remembers receiving the request for reinforcements and coming into the aftermath, remembers questioning Awn, remembers saying _“If you’re going to do something that crazy, save it for when it’ll make a difference.”_ She closes her eyes, takes a third deep breath, nods decisively and looks Daos Ceit in the eye, “Back in Ors, Lt Awn questioned the tyrant and tried to save the citizens in the temple. I… I told her that she was crazy to question a direct command, that if you’re going to do something that crazy, you should save it for when it’ll make a difference. Daos Ceit, are you willing to help me do something that crazy?”
  * Daos Ceit touches the flower pin that the Tyrant gave her when she acted as flower bearer the day after, remembers how terrified she was and wonders if she, Daos Ceit can really defy the Tyrant. Remembers also One Esk, solid, reassuring, and confident that she, as a tiny child, _could _manage the duties fate had given her that day. Quietly, in a trembling voice with more than just the usual hint of her Orsian accent, "Yes, sir. I'm scared, but, yes." More firmly, "But...what do we need to do?"
  * Skaaiat offers her a small smile that starts soft and quickly turns terrifying "I don't know exactly what the Tyrant is up to, but, whatever it is, _we _ are going to do our best to make her plans as difficult as possible for her to execute. We are going to lock down the docks. I need you to grab your stun stick and to stand guard at the back entrance. We don't know who, if anyone, we can trust, so don't let _anyone _onto the docks, _especially not the Tyrant_." She pauses briefly and then continues "I don't know how the omens are going to fall, but we _are_ going to make a difference. " 


End file.
